This invention relates to a home location register controller used in a mobile communication system, such as a mobile telephone system, a personal handy phone system (PHS), or the like, particularly, relates to a home location register controller capable of dealing with congestion of access for a home location register (HLR) of the mobile communication system.
A conventional mobile communication system has mobile services switching centers (MSCs), a home location register, and mobile stations for subscribers. The home location register stores a database including information of the subscribers and the mobile stations. The home location register is accessed by the mobile services switching centers to carry out routing circuits and to serve other value added services.
Recently, with the expansion of a service area of the mobile communication system and with the rapid increase of subscribers, addition of mobile services switching centers is being made. In addition, the value added services is increasing in the number of kinds to meet the various requests of the subscribers. In consequence, access from the mobile services switching centers to the home location resistor is rapidly increasing. Thus, the mobile communication system is constructed so that the use of the mobile communication system is effectively made after consideration is made about the maximum access traffic in the home location register.
However, when unexpected number of access to the home location register happen, congestion is happened in the home location registers. With the increase of the subscribers and with the increase of kinds of the value added services, the congestion will frequently happen. Thus, the congestion must be dissolved to supply an efficient communication service in the mobile communication system.
Though restricting call origination for a predetermined time dissolves the congestion, the restricted mobile terminals repeat call generation. As a result, other congestion happens in base stations and the mobile services switching centers. Thus, it is undesirable to restrict call origination.